Religion and Politics

Mormonism’s Russia Dilemma: How to Grow a Fledgling Faith With Missionaries Who Can’t Do Missionary Work

The Salt Lake Tribune’s Peggy Fletcher Stack reports that Mormons have been forced to reduce missions to Russia as a result of the country’s Yarovaya Law, which bans proselytizing. Even before the law’s approval, Mormons in Russia had experienced persecution. “Missionaries routinely were hauled in for questioning by police, constantly threatened with yanking away their visas or deportation for minor offenses,” Fletcher Stack writes. To work within the law, some Mormons in Russia are adopting a “friendship-and-service” missionary model, which promotes humanitarian work and interactions with Russians in everyday life.

Read at The Salt Lake Tribune

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